YOU ARE CURRENTLY VIEWING KEY SCIENCE:

MEASURING PROCESS IMPROVEMENT WITH LCA

Regulatory agencies, commercial customers, shareholders, non-governmental organisations and the general public expect that companies pay attention to the environmental properties of all their products and services. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an integrated "cradle to grave" approach that can be used to perform this task in a robust and defensible way with an horizon that extends beyond the factory gate and the bottom line of the balance sheet. LCA is a two-stage process of constructing an inventory of inputs (raw materials and energy), production processes, wastes and dependent activities (such as transport) and assessing the impacts of emissions and raw material depletions. The results of applying this process provide a basis for visualising and analysing performance relative to competitors (benchmarking), identifying areas for improvement and measuring the benefits of any changes that are implemented.

In respect of process improvement and LCA, Envision Chemistry would draw upon the expertise of collaborators in the Green Chemistry Centre of Industrial Collaboration at York. In partnership with them, Envision Chemistry can offer a complete range of skills in the field.

Photography courtesy of Emanuel Lobeck